Showing results for "west" in Literature & Fiction

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to become Southern California’s first giraffes. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow.

When Bruce Cowan takes his family and flees Boston to homestead out west, he figured the journey to California to be long but safe. Their first day out reveals how wrong he is and the perilous dangers of the Santa Fe Trail. It would have been a massacre but for Trent and Pat MacLeod. Trent favors a Sharps .50 caliber buffalo rifle, while his younger brother Pat packs two Texas Navy Colts. They both prove deadly and a force to be reckoned with. The Cowans and the McLeod brothers forge a bond those first few days, sustained in part by Trent's attraction to the 18-year-old Becky Cowan.

After years of schooling, Beth Thatcher has graduated and is determined to become a teacher. But when she's assigned the position no one else wants - in the tiny mining town of Coal Valley, located in the rugged foothills of western Canada - she worries she doesn't have the courage to accept. Inspired by the diary of her aunt Elizabeth, who went west to teach school several years earlier, as well as her father's encouragement, Beth eventually decides to put her trust in God and leave behind all she's ever known.

Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens.

No one tells tales of the frontier better than Louis L'Amour, who portrays the humanside of westward expansion - the good and the bad - before the days of law and order. Collected here are six stories penned by America's favorite Western author.

The final battle has begun. Jake West, once an ordinary 15-year-old boy, now stands as the last hope against evil. The Estian Alliance, pursued by an unstoppable force of shadow-born beasts, will face the final siege at the city of Te’oull. Hopelessly outclassed, it is surely facing annihilation. Unless Jake somehow restores the legendary weapon gifted by the Heynai. Failure would result in darkness consuming every world, including Earth. But when loyalty and friendship arm the soul, anything is possible.

I thought I was lucky to have a fresh start. Those don’t come around often for a girl from the streets of this city. But a fortunate chain of events has delivered me to the center of wealth and power and into the midst of three very different, very formidable cousins with the world at their feet. Gage, Micah, and Conner were determined to be my enemies. So I braced for a war. But they underestimated me. I earned respect from one of them, friendship from another, and I found love with the third. Or so I thought.

The Heynai gave the people of Estia one great weapon to wage war against the forces of evil; five powerful stones with limitless magic. Guarded for centuries by The Keepers who were chosen from Earth, together they somehow kept darkness at bay. Until two fifteen-year-old boys from England accidentally broke them. The Rebel Army of King Artrex is trapped. Outnumbered and outmatched, the only hope of salvation lies with a weapon that no longer exists. Jake West is the only one who can restore it. But Jake and his gravely wounded friend have returned to Earth.

The Volsung Academy says magic is safe. They are wrong. Vivienne Desai finally has her chance to shine. Stepping out of her twin sister's shadow, she has been accepted into Volsung Academy—the pinnacle of magical education in humanity's Golden Age.

In a post-apocalyptic America, Jamie Teague helps a group of travelers make their way past the murderous Bushwhackers. Jamie comes to find that the strangers are Mormons headed for Utah to avoid being massacred. Knowing that they will die without his help, he agrees to take them as far as his cabin.

This story is included in Orson Scott Card's collection The Folk of the Fringe.

Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West, initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time. Written in the sixteenth century, The Journey to the West tells the story of the fourteen-year pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang, one of China’s most famous religious heroes, and his three supernatural disciples, in search of Buddhist scriptures.

I’m only a week short of my 18th birthday when I discover my drug-addicted mother dead, a needle in her arm. It’s only then I learn of the family I’d forgotten—a stepfather and his two adult sons. One is star of the music world, a blind violinist who wows his audience on stage. The other brother is his protection—a six-four beast who no one dares cross. I don’t need them. They don’t want me. With my head still spinning, I find myself plunged into a world of wealth and fame. But it’s a brief dalliance. A private plane is due to take us to a concert hall in Montreal. Except it doesn’t make it.

Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.

They say only the brave ride Bridles Lane at night. Vicar Richard Dodge speaks of ghosts and demons, conducting elaborate exorcisms in his churchyard overlooking the lane. And with the villagers sheltering in fear, local smugglers carry their haul up the road to be hidden in the safety of the church. Isaac and Scarlett Bailey have spent their lives hiding contraband in Talland church. Forced into free trade by their father's mistakes, they want nothing more than to escape the smuggling syndicate and build a life above the law.

Sloane West is an ex-New York City cop turned private investigator, Irish whiskey aficionado, and untrained witch in an emotional slump. Her mother just died, and her ex-best friend and ex-lover have sent her an invitation to their upcoming nuptials. Thankfully, a solicitor arrives and distracts her faster than a night of drinking Jameson neat with news that Sloane has inherited her late grandparents'—who she didn't know existed—island estate.

It's an ordinary Tuesday morning when pensioner Alun Edwards turns up at Llangwelli station. He doesn't want to make a fuss but he's worried about his friend Gareth. Every Monday, they meet up for a game of chess. But Gareth wasn't at home yesterday. He's not answering his phone—and he's left his dog behind. He'd never do that. Detective Norman searches Gareth's cottage—and finds a woman's photograph, torn to shreds and dumped in the bin.

Journey to the West is one of China's greatest literary classics. Come embark on this mythical epic adventure story full of unforgettable characters, magical trials, action, humor, and heart. Woven in its spellbinding plot are deeper themes of spirituality, redemption, and fate--a reminder that, while each of us is destined for something greater than ourselves, it must be through our own free will that we realize our full potential. Lovingly translated from Chinese to English, this podcast is a faithful retelling of the original.

Become a subscriber to access all the locked content: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thefifthmonkey/subscribe Bringing China's most influential fantasy adventure to your ears, with an original translation right from its source text. The Fifth Monkey is an independent, multinational team dedicated to this project. For subtitles, please visit our Youtube Channel. Shop at our Patreon store for transcripts and become a paid member for more exclusive content, visit: patreon.com/thefifthmonkey We are also on Ko-fi⁠⁠(donation only), Bluesky⁠, Tumblr⁠⁠, Weibo, Bilibili.

If you could change history, would you? College graduate Josephine "Josie" Jackson answers "yes" to the question on a survey while visiting the Old West tourist town of Tombstone. The next morning, she wakes up in Indian Territory in the 1840s, where she's given a mission to complete before she can return to her time.

Kit Harington (Games of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Beast) smolder and burn as sparring brothers in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The live theatre production of True West was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. It was produced by Joseph Smith and John Brant for Smith & Brant Theatricals and James Bierman for Empire Street Productions.